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Des Moines Winter Games Ice Derby
By FishRecycler | February 3, 2009
Iowa Sportsman presented our first Des Moines Winter Games “Ice Bash,” the pre-party to the DM Winter Games Ice Derby. We held the event at Joeseppe’s Sports Bar at Scornovacca’s, a south side staple for over 30 years. This venue near the contest site – Easter Lake – made a great stop for anglers who pre-fished earlier in the day or who were coming into town for the derby.
As for the derby itself, the morning dawned on a beautiful day and a “greater than anticipated field of anglers” for the first ever Des Moines Winter Games Ice Derby. With nearly 125 anglers on the ice, it was a lively day of fishing in Iowa’s capitol city.
For a complete report and our photo essay, click “Read the rest of this entry,” or visit the “On Ice” Photo Center to see hundreds of photos, download them for free, or choose to have them printed and mailed to you for a nominal donation.
Joe, the guy who owns and manages Joeseppes Sports Bar, is an avid angler himself, so enthusiastically welcomed us to hold the Ice Bash at his place, and donated a percentage of all drink orders for the night back to Recycled Fish to help us continue spreading the word on stewardship of our lakes, streams and seas.
The night’s festivities included the rules meeting for the derby and much more.
Door prizes every 10 minutes kept things lively. With prizes like a new Jason Mitchell ice rod, a $50 Gift Certificate to Sheel’s Sporting Goods, gift packs including Iowa Sportsman Magazine subscriptions and many other prizes, winners were grinning ear to ear.
A silent auction provided some great deals to bidders, a much needed funds infusion to the cause, and a chance to highlight many of our great partners.
Recycled Fish’s Teeg Stouffer gave a “Catch Photo Release” seminar that struck a chord – you’ll see the results in the photos from the event the following day.
Ice Team PowerStick Rod “Munchy” Woten not only served as the event organizer for the derby, he gave two awesome seminars on how to catch more and bigger fish, which anglers at the Ice Bash used as an advantage the next day on the ice.
Sunday morning was a comfortable twenty-something degrees and still on Easter Lake, but free Grabber handwarmers from the Recycled Fish hospitality crew helped keep contestants even more comfortable.
Hot cocoa and Folgers Coffee Singles didn’t hurt either, as anglers rolled onto the ice and finished registration, bucket checks and strategized a plan prior to blastoff.
Des Moines’ KCCI Newschannel 8 was onsite with live coverage from the derby in the morning, and filming a segment for the evening news.
Recycled Fish provided bags and our famous “water on a stick” so that anglers could pre-fill buckets and bags with water to transport fish to the weigh-in later. Fish weighed in water eek out precious fractions of an ounce over those brought to the weigh-in stand dead and dry, and they can then be returned to the lake to swim again.
With all contestants properly registered and prepped, tournament director Rod Woten lined ‘em up and blasted ‘em off.
Anglers quickly found their spots on the lake and set up camp.
A blast of the horn at 8:00 a.m. straigh up signaled that lines could go down and fishing could commence.
It wasn’t long before the first fish came in to be weighed. Not a lunker, but it pointed to what would be the dominant species for the day.
Our onsite release pit was designed to help fish revive prior to swimming down the hole, and it worked! This event set a new record for fish survival rates on the Recycled Fish “On Ice” tour. We had a 95% survival rate, a tremendous achievement. While some delayed mortality may occur, 95% of our fish swam off on their own strength – most vigorously! The successful release can be attributed to favorable conditions – air temps were in the high 20′s and low 30′s for the contest period, and excellent fish handling on the part of the contestants. Every fish was brought in to weigh in either a bucket or bag of water.
It wasn’t just crappie that were weighed. A couple of very nice walleye, including this fish which won the tournament made their way to the scales.
Team FishHeads2 Ben Leal and Randy Bieghler had the option to harvest their legal keeper walleye…
But they chose to let her swim – she’s still in there for another angler to catch and enjoy, or to spawn and make more come springtime.
Anglers brought in not just fish, but trash they found on the ice like used fishing line. Proof positive that anglers truly can be the best stewards of our resource – and that it only takes a little effort to “make up for the other guy.”
A second blast of the horn at noon signaled the end of fishing. Laura Woten had the honors, and the camera in her hand gives her away as the artist behind the best photos in this report.
At 2.4 pounds, FishHeads2 took top honors in this “big fish” format derby with that walleye. They took home a new Vexilar flasher.
2nd place was an unlikely fish – a shad – caught by Mike Weisshaar and Jim Thomas, Team Gill Pill. These guys took home a Fish Trap Pro.
Another walleye for Chad Peterson and Kate mCGillivray made third place and a Strikemaster power auger theirs.
It’s great to see an event with parents getting kids involved, and Ice Team and other partners encouraged youth participation for every angler under age 18 with a nice prize pack.
Kids loved their prizes, and in addition to the top 3 prizes listed above, awards were given to the top 10 teams weighing fish.
Some nice crappie made the list, including several pound-class fish. Here are the top 10 angler teams for the day:
1. Ben Leal & Randy Bieghler Walleye 2.4 Pounds
2. Mike Weisshaar & Jim Thomas Shad 1.3 Pounds
3. Chad Peterson & Kate McGillivray Walleye 1.2 Pounds
4. Nick Walker & Randy Russol Walleye 1.15 Pounds
5. DJ Emmons & Chris Leaf Crappie 1.1 Pounds
6. Mike DeBruin Walleye 1.05 Pounds
7. Chad Weir & Cody Weir Crappie 1.00 Pounds
8. Shawm Vetterick & Athena Shotwell Crappie 0.90 Pounds
9. John Wallenburg & Tim Wolfswinkel Crappie 0.90 Pounds
10. Brad Tedder & William Mott Crappie 0.75 Pounds
Events like this one brought people into Des Moines, created excitement in the city, built enthusiasm for the ice fishing and fought the shack nasties for everyone on the water, including the couple dozen local residents who just wandered down to see what was going on down on the lake. But these kinds of parties are impossible without the help of the volunteers who are generous with their time to throw them. It was an awesome crew here in Des Moines: Karen and Christy shown here, Tim, Mark, Shane, Rob and Laura, and the many from the Des Moines Winter Games committee who made the weekend possible – there were many more we’re failing to name here (with apologies).
If an auger cuts the ice but there’s nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound? Without the help of media to spread the good word, these things don’t take off, either. So special thanks to all of the media partners including Iowa Sportsman Magazine, Iowa Outdoors, KCCI television, The Champ AM sports radio, the Des Moines Register and all of the other media who helped us put a bullhorn on this new event for the city.
Feature Photos
For hundreds of photos from the Des Moines Winter Games Ice Bash and Ice Derby, visit the Recycled Fish “On Ice” Photo Center here. A few of our favorites below.
Partners in Stewardship
The Recycled Fish “On Ice” tour would be impossible without the help of these great sponsors. Be sure to remember them when you hit the hard water.
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